Morphine - Alternate Healer/support Warframe

[SpaniardInfinity]

MORPHINE – Alternate Healer/Support Warframe

 

As always I love getting my hands dirty with community concepts like this. As a disclaimer, all of the numbers are open to debate, they are there mostly to get a guage of what would and wouldn't be too powerful. So without any further ado...

 

 

Overview

 

Morphine is intended to be an unorthodox support class. Morphine isn't intended to surplant Trinity as the more traditional (and more effective) healer, but he is intended to be an alternative that provides team support while still having combat capabilities. He is an in-your-face/high risk risk-reward Warframe, which may seem out of character for a support class, but his abilities are designed so that he can survive on his own while truly shining when supporting his team. Most of his powers are based on medication stored under pressure in his Warframe. Usually this is used to save lives, but when injected in obscenely high doses and concentrations, the same medicine can be used as a sinister poison to end lives, too.

 

In-game description: "Capable of saving and ending lives, Morphine is a high-risk high-reward support Warframe."

 

 

General Stats

• High natural armor rating and maximum health.
• Average movement speed.
• Below average energy pool for abilities, perhaps the lowest of all Warframes

Polarities

• In addition to its four ability slots, 1 Tractics (Bar) and 1 Defense (D)
• Aura Polarity will also be Defense (D)

 

Alternate Equipment

• Contagion Morphine Helmet – Confers immunity to staggers/knockdowns and increases damage done by all abilities and weapons by 10%. Reduces power efficiency by 10%. (This is designed to be the more combat-oriented helmet, bumping up damage and making you immune to knockdowns/staggers -- exactly what you want in the thick of battle. Sacrifices power efficiency for better damage.)
• Caretaker Morphine Helmet – Increases health regeneration rate by 0.3 for all group members and slows the rate which downed teammates bleed out by 25%. Reduces Morphine’s weapon damage by 10%. (This is designed to be the more support-oriented helmet, improving group health regeneration -- which stacks with the Rejuvenation Aura(s) -- while also buying your team time to revive incapacitated allies. Sacrifices non-power damage for better group healing utilities.)

Appearance

• Should be bulkier than Ash or Excalibur, but not as heavily armored as Rhino. Vauban would be a good reference point for how armored he should be.
• Somewhat inspired by the electricity arcing across Volt, it would be great to see medical fluid (colored based on Warframe energy) coursing through “veins” or tubes that crisscross under and around armor platings. Some of these tubes may show through parts of the armor, such as the shoulder or helmet itself. For instance, on the helmet these tubes could form a “hairline” or “jawline” on what is otherwise a mostly featureless face.
• Hopefully has a helmet that does not look like a mushroom, a fish, a mollusk, or roadkill when viewed from any angle.
• Hopefully does not have a koi tail stapled to his backside (I’m looking at you Volt)
• His abilities should be weapon or technology-based, rather than purely supernatural or magical.

 

Abilities

 

Infusion (25 energy) – Heals a friendly target for 40 percent of their maximum health and improves the effectiveness of the target’s shields by 10/15/20/25 percent for 10 seconds. If used on an enemy, the target suffers an adverse reaction, lowering the target’s movement speed and increasing the target’s damage taken from all sources by 10/20/30/40 percent for the next 10 seconds.

 

In-game description: “Infuses the target with powerful medicine, healing and bolstering friendlies while inducing an adverse reaction in affected enemies.”

 

Relevant Mods

• Focus increases magnitude of the shield resistance on friendlies, and increases the magnitude of the damage susceptibility on enemies.
• Continuity and Constitution can be used to extend the duration of the shield resistance on friendlies and the damage susceptibility on enemies.

Notes

• Healing an ally who has full health with Infusion may over-heal them up to 150% of their maximum health (e.g. if you have 500 health on your warframe, Infusion could potentially increase it to 750 health.) Because this effect only heals 40% on each application, it would require at least two casts for the target to be fully over-healed (assuming they had full health initially).
• Over-healed health can never exceed 150% of a target’s maximum health and does not stack with similar/subsequent effects. Note that "maximum health" implies that Vitality and other relevant mods/skins have already been considered and calculated.
• Over-healed health gradually decays back to maximum health over time at a rate of about -0.25% per second. All other damage over time effects still apply, such as poison (from Ancient Toxics) and the Vampire effect in Nightmare modes.
• The “effectiveness of the target’s shields” (or shield resistance) refers to their shield’s ability to mitigate incoming damage, causing the shield to be drained at a slower rate.
• When used on an enemy, the movement speed reduction from the “adverse reaction” persists until the target is killed. The damage susceptibility will expire when the target is killed or after 10 seconds (not including power duration mods) have elapsed, whichever comes first.
• Cannot target self, but Morphine does benefit from the increased damage on affected enemies.

Objectives

• Infusion sets the tone for a Warframe that has two-dimensional abilities. The primary benefit of Infusion is to boost an ally's shield resistance (effictiveness) and maximum health, which makes them better equipped to endure incoming damage. Although this is best suited for allies with high health and shield pools, it is also helpful to cast on fresh Warframes to give them a little bit more survivability in battle.
• The secondary role is to enable Morphine to single out a specific target for his team and weaken them, making them more vulnerable to attack. This is great for critical targets such as bosses or damage-resistant foes.

 

Ward (50 energy) – Knocks all enemies within 6/8/10/12 meters back and away from Morphine, inflicting 10/20/30/40 damage to enemies and healing himself and nearby aliies for 20/25/30/35. The amount of damage and healing is increased by 5% for each enemy knocked away.

 

In-game description: “Morphine forces nearby enemies to be knocked away from him, dealing additional damage and healing for each affected target.”

 

Relevant Mods

• Focus increases the base damage and healing of the attack, but does not increase the 5% multiplier for each affected target.
• Stretch increases both knockback distance (enemies are knocked away this distance) and radial effect distance (enemies within this distance are knocked back).

Notes

• Enemies that have been knocked back are thrown to the ground and will take several seconds to recover.
• In addition to the damage dealt from the ability itself, enemies will take fall and physics damage when hitting heavy objects such as props (crates, computers, etc.) and level architecture (walls, ceilings, etc). Damage is dependent on force of impact and is more likely to affect targets closest to Morphine at the time of the ability’s activation.
• Enemies that are knocked back are always pushed a set distance away (dependent on Stretch), but are still subject to other effects in the area, if others are present. This includes effects like Snow Globe and Bastille.
• Morphine always receives healing from Ward.

Objectives

• Ward has offensive and support capabilities. It can both used to deal damage to groups with many enemies, but can also be used to clear enemies from knocked-down/incapacitated/unshielded allies while simultaneously healing them. Ward could also save your life if you get cornered.
• There is also an objective use that can be valuable on defense-oriented missions. Although Ward would not be as effective as Frost’s Snow Globe or Vauban’s Bastille, Ward would at least enable Morphine to knock enemies away from the cryopod/generator during an emergency, especially if a squadmate has been incapacitated somewhere in the fray. This can easily buy you enough time to save your teammate and/or the objective.

 

Leech Grenade (75 energy) – Lobs a grenade at a target that detonates dealing 100/200/300/400 poison damage to all enemies within 5/6/7/8 meters of the explosion. A small pool of poison is left behind which deals a small amount of poison damage over the next five seconds. In addition, Morphine receives 2/3/4/5 power and health for each affected enemy.

 

In-game description: “Morphine lobs a grenade that detonates, poisoning enemies and leeching their health and energy.”

 

Relevant Mods

• Focus increases the amount of damage dealt by the initial detonation and residual DoT. (There is also a cap on power/health leeched; both caps may be increased with Focus -- see notes for details).
• Stretch increases the radius of the explosion and residual DoT.
• Continuity and Constitution increases the duration of the residual DoT.

Notes

• All damage dealt by Leech Grenade is poison damage, which bypasses shields and armor of most enemies.
• Enemies are slowed while under the effects of the DoT.
• Health and power are only leeched from enemies affected by the initial explosion. The residual DoT does not leech health or power for Morphine to use.
• A maximum of 50 energy and 100 health can be leeched from enemies with a single Leech Grenade. Focus can improve both caps.
• Leech Grenade is subject to gravity and bullet drop.
• The DoT ticks each second dealing 25 damage (can be improved with Focus).

Objectives

• Leech Grenade, along with Ward, are Morphine’s two main attacks against enemies. Unlike Ward, however, Leech Grenade is strictly for damage and does not provide any direct benefit for teammates (although with more health and power, Morphine can now use another ability to directly assist). Furthermore, it is also Morphine’s only ability that can be used from range.
• Leech Grenade is a great tool to have on hand (if you can afford it) during Bloodletting to heal yourself if you take too much damage.
• To some extent, Leech Grenade can be thought of as a "personal" ultimate ability -- powerful, fairly high cost, but only beneficial to yourself. This seems fitting because Bloodletting, Morphine's "true" ultimate ability, is only beneficial to teammates.

 

Bloodletting (100 energy) – For the next 6/8/10/12 seconds, Morphine endures and converts 20/30/40/50 percent of incoming damage to heal himself and nearby allies within 25/35/45/55 meters every second. The power strength and range of all nearby affected Warframes is increased by 5/10/15/20 percent.

 

In-game description: “Morphine sacrifices his well-being to heal and supercharge nearby Warframes.”

 

Relevant Mods

• Stretch increases the radius of the AoE healing effect (both shield and health)
• Continuity and Constitution both increase the duration of the effect.

Notes

• Focus does not affect Bloodletting.
• Morphine (who casted it) does not benefit from the increased power range and strength of Bloodletting.
• Bloodletting considers both damage done to shield and health when converting it into group healing (so it will function whether your shields are up or not). All resistances and damage reductions are calculated before converting to health/shield.
• Damage is converted into healing/shielding every second; the amount converted is based on damage taken during the preceding second. As such, at maximum level and not considering mods, Bloodletting will not do any healing until one second into the effect (t=1 seconds) and its final tick of healing occurs after the effect has ended at t=13 seconds.
• This ability generates a high amount of threat for the duration, which can make Bloodletting suicidal if unsupported by allies. Note that other Warframes with high threat abilities (such as Loki's Decoy or Rhino's Iron Skin) will override this and take threat away from Morphine. This will not end the effect, but it may make healing/shielding harder to achieve with less incoming damage.
• Bloodletting will improve any ability that is affected by the Focus and/or Stretch mod. Components of an ability that are not improved with either mod are not improved with Bloodletting (e.g. it will not increase the duration of an ability unless that ability’s duration can be enhanced with Focus and/or Stretch).
• Bloodletting has a priority when “healing”. It will first restore a player’s health until 100% maximum and will then bolster it up to 150% maximum (over-heal).  As long as the individual player remains fully over-healed (150% maximum), Bloodletting will begin restoring their shield as though it were health until 100% maximum and will attempt to bolster it up to 150% maximum (over-shield).
• The over-heal effect does not start to decay until Bloodletting ends. It will decay at the same rate as Infusion (-0.25% per second). All damage to health is otherwise calculated normally, except the Vampie effect in Nightmare modes, which is cancelled (and has no effect) until Bloodletting ends.
• The over-shield effect does not decay. The excess shield will remain until it is depleted by incoming damage.
• Over-healed health can never exceed 150% of a target’s maximum health and does not stack with similar/subsequent effects. Note that "maximum health" implies that Vitality and other relevant mods/skins have already been considered and calculated.
• Over-shielded shields can never exceed 150% of a target’s maximum shield and does not stack with similar/subsequent effects. Note that "maximum shield" implies that Redirection and other relevant mods/skins have already been considered and calculated.

Objectives

• I wanted to give Morphine an ultimate attack that is powerful but in a way different from Trinity’s Blessing. Bloodletting for a few moments makes Morphine the focus of enemy fire, which he endures and converts into health (or shield) for himself and allies. Compared to Trinity’s Blessing, Bloodletting is riskier and less effective at restoring shields and health. To offset this, Bloodletting has the potential to over-heal and over-shield himself and allies. The over-heal effect decays, but can be manually extended (energy allowing) with Infusion or another Bloodletting. The over-shield effect does not decay and can be game-changing when applied to key friendlies.
• I also was hesitant to give immunity to damage to Bloodletting like Blessing, both because I didn’t want to copy the idea but also because it does not really fit in with the high-risk high-reward vision I had in mind. Instead, Bloodletting provides a potent buff to the abilities of all friendlies. Their abilities now hit harder and have more range, making them more potent. If all goes according to plan, a Morphine will only need to take enough damage to over-shield his allies and let them vanquish the enemy forces with supercharged abilities.
• The ability has high threat generation which allows them to coordinate with their team. Since other high-threat abilities (like Loki's Decoy or Rhino's Iron Skin) will generate more threat, these abilities will automatically take precedence over Morphine's Bloodletting. When coordinated, this could allow Morphine to take enough damage to do sufficient healing and shielding before letting one of his teammates take the pressure off. This works well when complemented by the Rejuvenation Aura/Caretaker Morphine Helmet, since both enable Morphine's health (as well as the group's) to regenerate.
• Bloodletting could potentially have a damage component to it. What I was thinking was something of a "martydrom", where if Morphine is killed during Bloodletting, all enemies who attacked him during the duration sustain a very large amount of poison damage (like a Poison version of the "Retribution" mod, but not restricted to melees). I left this out of my formal concept at this point to focus on the merits of the ability as strictly a support ability, but would be open to adding some form of damage if Morphine needs to stand his ground better.

Edited August 3, 2013 by SpaniardInfinity

[IIX_Vritrayan]

Support? We already have trinity

Edited August 1, 2013 by PrismSeven

[Stefe]

This frame will definitely need a cooperative team that won't instantly use a crowd-clearing ability at first sight. Otherwise, Morphine's powers will almost always be inefficient, since many of his abilities rely on casting them on groups of enemies/while IN groups of enemies.

[silversponge]

This is an amazingly well thought out frame idea and Is probably as balanced if not more balanced than at least 2/3 frames already in the game however the third ability seems to be almost as good as an ultimate however excaliburs first ability could also be seen this way on low level enemies and so if none of these abilities (except maybe the ultimate) dont ignore armor it would be balanced without being overpowered as I first thought when reading this. First generic class or archetype that comes to mind after reading this would be a paladin (large build with good AoE heals and buffs for allies with a fair amount of offensive capabilities but is slow and not as good at healing or fighting as other classes specialised in those respective roles) and I feel due to this strong build and background it would make a good addition to the current frames.

Lots of detail and well thought through would have been enough for a +1 but the fact that it could easily be put in to the game today deserves more likes than I can give out.

[SpaniardInfinity]

Support? We already have trinity

 

That's like saying "Damage, we have Nova." There's nothing wrong with a little variety, so that's why I make it clear Morphine is an alternative -- not a replacement -- to Trinity for players looking for a different toolset and approach that still fills the support role.

 

 

This frame will definitely need a cooperative team that won't instantly use a crowd-clearing ability at first sight. Otherwise, Morphine's powers will almost always be inefficient, since many of his abilities rely on casting them on groups of enemies/while IN groups of enemies.

 

And I agree, Morphine would require a coordinated team which is what I had in mind. But with that said, he wouldn't be the only Warframe who is a lot less effective if you have one player hogging all the damage/kills (still looking at you Nova).

 

I also wouldn't recommend him as a beginner Warframe.

 

This is an amazingly well thought out frame idea and Is probably as balanced if not more balanced than at least 2/3 frames already in the game however the third ability seems to be almost as good as an ultimate however excaliburs first ability could also be seen this way on low level enemies and so if none of these abilities (except maybe the ultimate) dont ignore armor it would be balanced without being overpowered as I first thought when reading this. First generic class or archetype that comes to mind after reading this would be a paladin (large build with good AoE heals and buffs for allies with a fair amount of offensive capabilities but is slow and not as good at healing or fighting as other classes specialised in those respective roles) and I feel due to this strong build and background it would make a good addition to the current frames.

Lots of detail and well thought through would have been enough for a +1 but the fact that it could easily be put in to the game today deserves more likes than I can give out.

 

Thanks for the support and I'm glad you like the idea! More or less, you hit the nail on the head with what I was attempting with Morphine -- trying to strike a balance between healing and damage, allowing you to do a little bit of both with satisfying challenges and payoffs.

Edited August 2, 2013 by SpaniardInfinity